SM Entertainment to take legal action against those distributing 'false video footage' of K-pop girl group Aespa
The South Korean entertainment agency said that it has already collected evidence of malicious posts and comments against the K-pop quartet.
From left: Aespa members Winter, Ningning, Giselle and Karina at the 2024 SBS Gayo Daejeon music festival. (Photo: Instagram/aespa_official)
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South Korean agency SM Entertainment announced on Tuesday (Feb 11) that it was taking legal action against malicious posts and "false video footage" related to K-pop girl group Aespa. In a statement on its feedback platform Kwangya 119, SM Entertainment said that it has collected evidence and is "currently responding by filing a complaint".
SM Entertainment appears to be referring to deepfake videos of the members of Aespa – Karina, Giselle, Winter and Ningning – which have been spread on the messaging service Telegram.
The agency's statement read: "We would like to inform you of the progress of legal action against malicious posts and comments containing defamation, insults, sexual harassment, etc, regarding our artiste Aespa.
"We have collected evidence of malicious posts and comments about Aespa through reports from fans and our own monitoring, and are currently responding by filing a complaint for insult, defamation and editing and distributing false video footage."
SM Entertainment revealed that many perpetrators have since been identified – with some receiving court dispositions.
The agency added: "We will continue to take strong measures and respond to those who post malicious posts, videos, images, etc, targeting Aespa, regardless of whether they are domestic or international. We will continue to do our best to protect the rights and interests of our artistes."
Aespa debuted in 2020 with the song Black Mamba. Since then, they have become one of the biggest K-pop girl groups and have released multiple hit songs including Next Level, Savage and Supernova.
